Blancpain endurance series 2012

[911targa]

2*997 GT3 R for team PRO GT by Almeras this year. Likely the team will also continue their FFSA project with Porsche and maybe some selected GT Open rounds.
http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...ance-9566.html

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

Pro GT are really strong, last year French GT Tour champions beating two top teams as WRT (Team Audi France) and Larbre Competition.

[Rodger Davies]

Manthey are entering BES in one form it seems: the Haribo Porsche team that raced at Spa will be back for the full series this time

http://racing.haribo.de/#/Deadlines

Actually, with the exception of a single clash, these dates seem to work quite well together - are Black Falcon doing VLN too?

[Speed-King]

At least in VLN Haribo is no longer running with Manthey, though...

[The Badger]

Is there an updated entry list knocking about please ?

[Rodger Davies]

more realistic full season entry list here:
http://www.planetlemans.com/2012/02/...on-entry-list/

Very BPR style to this list based on the number of McLarens (2 in Gulf colours!)

I'm still sceptical about Trackspeed and it's missing many Spa only or partial season entries.

[Marcel ten Caat]

It is missing most Spa or other part-time entries. It is a full season list.
If a team that is on the list will say 'no full season' it will be removed and later added on the race-by-race list.

As for HARIBO Racing Team - should be a stand-alone operation this year.

[Subaru_WRX_STi]

wow the McLaren squadron

Still at Audi, really strange to not see Greg Franchi on the entry list !

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Rodger Davies

Very BPR style to this list based on the number of McLarens (2 in Gulf colours!)

Very much so. Just wish I had've been into sportscar racing when BPR kicked off in the nineties . Oh well I get to enjoy it this time around somewhat..

Would like to know what is going on with WRT also. They are a belgian team and they've gotten rid of most of their belgian drivers. What gives?

[LeManske]

Entry list for Monza is out (pdf file) and also some info on EI.

NICE LIST! Some nice additions we didn't know about yet such as ARC Bratislava, ART Grand Prix, SMG Challenge, Kessel Racing, ... But not (yet) on list are: Autorlando, Roal Motorsport, KRK Racing Team, Barwell, ...

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by LeManske

Entry list for Monza is out (pdf file) and also some info on EI.

NICE LIST! Some nice additions we didn't know about yet such as ARC Bratislava, ART Grand Prix, SMG Challenge, Kessel Racing, ... But not (yet) on list are: Autorlando, Roal Motorsport, KRK Racing Team, Barwell, ...

The list seems to be capped, so it's gonna be interesting where these teams are going to show up...

And that stupid splitting of classes by driver rating has to end... 7 cars for the overall title is close to being pathetic. Why not give everybody a shot at the overall title and honor the best Pro-Am team with a special award.

[Rodger Davies]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

And that stupid splitting of classes by driver rating has to end...

Agreed, I don't get why all the series are obsessed with it at the moment. Fair enough, award a Pro-Am trophy, but let everyone race towards the overall prize and then have a Pro-am trophy WITHIN that competition and the Gentlemen's one within that. Same with GT-Am.

Either way though, looks a fantastic list of cars if not stellar driver lineups - Autolando's the key one that I'm disappointed to see missing, their victory at Monza last year was my favourite race of the year after LM.

[FordCosworthPanoz]

Originally Posted by LeManske

Entry list for Monza is out (pdf file) and also some info on EI.

NICE LIST! Some nice additions we didn't know about yet such as ARC Bratislava, ART Grand Prix, SMG Challenge, Kessel Racing, ... But not (yet) on list are: Autorlando, Roal Motorsport, KRK Racing Team, Barwell, ...

Good lord, I'm looking forward to this season the most I've been since the BPR days. Will try to link in a Spa 24h visit with my Belgium business trip.

[alexkiller8]

too many cars and too many important teams in pro-am class, as already said, the smartest thing to do is to join the classes and make just one GT3 class. For amateurs drivers should be done a sort of citation cup or something like that.

[Speed-King]

Another thought: If the GT-World Championship collapses, the teams that signed up for that won't be able to take refuge there now.

And with GT-Masters likely being oversubscribed again as well, there aren't too many fall-back posibilities left. GT-Open would be one, I supposse and then there is still the GT3 European Championship, but that one is pro-am-only.

[AndrewF31]

I don't understand the comments about PRO and Pro-Am, because the Overall championship can be won by anyone, if there is one this year. The Pro-Am cup is in fact the "Citation Cup" or whatever.
The Pro teams are like the Factory teams within LMP1, the only teams probably with a real chance of winning the overall, with the Pro-Am guys being the "petrol" derby.
A combined class wouldn't change anything except elude a few. The same 6 teams would still be the main favorites.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by AndrewF31

I don't understand the comments about PRO and Pro-Am, because the Overall championship can be won by anyone. The Pro-Am cup is in fact the "Citation Cup" or whatever.

You sure about that?

At least last year, there was no overall title only separate classifications for the various divisions, with Pro-Cup serving as the de facto overall title.

[Rodger Davies]

two #60s, early list!

[Somatosis]

Originally Posted by Rodger Davies

Manthey are entering BES in one form it seems: the Haribo Porsche team that raced at Spa will be back for the full series this time

http://racing.haribo.de/#/Deadlines

Actually, with the exception of a single clash, these dates seem to work quite well together - are Black Falcon doing VLN too?

Looks entirely possible that Haribo does actually = Manthey in this case.... fingers crossed!

http://www.endurance-info.com/versio...ance-9576.html

[AndrewF31]

Originally Posted by Speed-King

You sure about that?

At least last year, there was no overall title only separate classifications for the various divisions, with Pro-Cup serving as the de facto overall title.

If there's one, ya but that won't be the case I guess.

However, merging the 2 won't solve anything. If you look at last year's cup standings, most of the time, the races had just as many PROs as this year seems to have.
And the PROs always finished in the front, if they didn't have car trouble. This way you just make it completely clear that Pro-Am lineups have their own legit battle and they seem happy enough to return and with reinforcements.

[Simmi]

Agree about the class divide being pointless. But that is a cracking list. Will definitely be paying increased attention to this series in 2012. Might even try head over to Silverstone before Le Mans.

[FstrthnU]

I sure hope I'll be able to find some sort of live streaming here in the US. Any idea what's the overall broadcast package they're using?

[rich07]

I too would like to know about online streaming cause its the only way I'll be able to watch it.

Its great to have a strong series like this in Europe in the eventuality that WGT falls over. A big list which will probably get bigger for Spa and plenty of quality drivers through the field should make for some good racing.

And the three hour format is a bit more traditional in terms of endurance racing which appeals to purists and competitors alike.

[AndrewF31]

Can't remember if there was online streaming of the race since MotorsTV showed it.

I think Spa had online streaming at least?

[Speed-King]

There was, but it was on dailymotion which meant that it was pretty much permafail...

IIRC SRO is switching to a new partner for this year, though, so things should be better.